Allison in Wonderland
by Lilith Lalaith
Summary: She's late for a wedding. What will the White Rabbit Emergency Taxi Service do for her? Some major changes to the Alice in Wonderland universe.
1. Chapter 1

I was late and to cap it off, I had a run in my stocking, all the way up the front of my right leg. I made a pit stop knowing that I probably wouldn't make it to my cousins' wedding on time and would have to sneak into a seat in the back of the outdoor ceremony. Since it was outside, it would be easy to sneak in, but I wasn't sure I even wanted to go. The cousins—April and June (no joke)—had decided that they needed a joint wedding. And so they did: a lavish, unnecessarily large ridiculous affair as they married 2 of the biggest assholes I had ever met. April made out slightly better, at least her asshole was a rich one. June's had nothing going for him save his knack for singing incoherent show tunes after a single shot. Psh, lightweight.

I walked briskly into CVS, searching for pantyhose and getting incredibly distracted by their clearance aisle. I was already late… maybe I should just not bother… Nah, I wasn't going to miss the wedding because leftover Easter baskets screamed 2 for 1. I grabbed the hose, checked out, did a quick change in the store bathroom, and shuffled in my mostly unworn heels out the door.

I braced myself to endure the ceremony, purposely set in May because "it's the only thing that ever came between them." It would be cutesy and fluffy and dumb and if I heard one Miley Cyrus song at the reception I would live the rest of the night at the open bar and maybe get picked up by some mysterious friend of the rich groom, who would whisk me away to some palatial estate not in Ohio. Yeah, I'm a dreamer. And I'm not even drinking yet.

I turned the key in the ignition once, twice, three times and got nothing more than a sputter. Three more tries and I began to wonder if it was fate that I couldn't go to this wedding. Maybe, maybe not. I decided I'd face less family wrath if I made an attempt to get there. I picked up my phone and called my mother, who was already likely there but might be able to direct someone my way to give me a helping hand, or at the very least, here was my excuse for not going to the ceremony.

I called and called but the phone only rang. I tried every person I could think of and short of resorting to friends that I rarely called and ex-boyfriends. I had no numbers left to call. I was quite literally stuck.

That's when I noticed the piece of paper stuck to my windshield. Something had blown itself in between the wiper blades and I could just make out what appeared to say "taxi service." Fate! I pried the paper out and found a flyer for "White Rabbit Emergency Taxi Services: Follow Us and We'll Get You There on Time." How cute. I was, however, out of options and decided I might as well call. I'd have them come out and if they seemed shady, I'd walk home and explain to my family later.

"Hi, thank you for calling White Rabbit Emergency Taxi Services, my name is Alice, how may I help you?"

Even cuter. She's even named Alice.

I explained my situation and needed to get to a wedding. She was understanding and said there would be someone to pick me up within a few minutes, since the service was based locally. I might actually have a chance of making it to the wedding at a decent time after all.

I went inside the store to ask someone to get a towing service for my car, but the cashier that had been at the register was gone. I wasn't going to wait so I started to walk through the store, looking for someone. Anyone. There weren't even any customers.

I headed back towards the front of the store and found no one until I spotted a woman outside the entrance, her body partially obscured by advertisements in the door. Even so, I could tell she was tall and thin with long, wavy blond hair. She was fair and sweet of face, maybe in her early 20s. What was strange though was the long, sky-blue dress she had on. I spotted white lace on her short sleeves and black shoes on her feet. The automatic doors opened for her, but she did not enter.

"Allison Hatter?"

"Yes?"

"Are you ready to go?"

I walked towards the door and spotted a white carriage pulled by 2 all white horses.

"We're not going to the wedding are we?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"We are going to where it is you need to go," she said innocently, smiling all the while.

Hell, this was better than April, June, and the brothers Asshole wedding. So I followed her outside and walked to the coach. She climbed into her place at the reins and on the seat next to her, a small white rabbit sat, ears and nose twitching at the activity. As I opened the door to the coach, I looked back at my driver.

"Miss?"

She turned. "Yes, Miss Hatter?"

"Your name is Alice, isn't it?"

She laughed softly. "Of course it is. We spoke on the telephone remember?"

"Yes," I said, my head whirling. "Yes, I remember."

What else was left for me to do but climb into the coach?


	2. Chapter 2

The inside was well-furnished but worn, as if it had borne many passengers before myself. I saw faded designs of hearts in the graying cloth of the furniture. Strange, considering it was a white carriage, and with the little I knew of Wonderland, red and white were from opposing sides. In the stories, hadn't the Red Queen been defeated by the White? Maybe the White Queen repossessed carriages?

Several candles were in place on the wall, giving off dim light to the inside. They were fairly useless with daylight shining outside the walls, but I soon realized their purpose. Just as I felt the carriage rock underneath me with the start of the horses, it grew immediately dark, and the light from the candles warmly lit up the interior. I moved aside musty curtains to look outside and saw trees flying past me at impossible speeds. The only reason I could be sure they were trees was the occasional branch that would knock the window; other than that, it was just a mess of dark green flying by in the blackness. Wherever we were, it had to be night.

I closed the curtain again and sat back, letting my dream happen. When I woke up, it would be the morning of the wedding, and I would check my stockings as soon as I rolled out of bed to avoid being late. It was odd though. I couldn't remember the last time that I had realized that I was asleep in mid-dream; I hadn't had it happen since I was a girl. So maybe I wasn't dreaming? Nah, of course I was. Maybe I'd actually gone to the wedding already, and I'm really in the back of a taxi in the midst of a drunken stupor. That sounds a lot more like me.

The horses came to a sudden almost instantaneous halt, and I flew off of my seat into the seat across from me, nearly putting my hair-sprayed up-do into a candle that would've surely burnt me to cinders in several seconds. Alice was immediately at the door, opening it for me and lending me a hand to help me from the transport. I hesitantly took her hand; wasn't it usually dashing young men that helped ladies from their rides?

I looked around and found we were still in the densely forested area. Alice was lifted her skirts to above her knees, tying the excess at her waist, revealing milky white legs underneath ripped stockings and old garters.

"Miss Hatter, I recommend rolling your skirts up a tad higher. The thorns are high, and it is much easier to hide ripped stockings than it is outer garments. See, you've already got a rip," Alice instructed.

I looked down at the skirt of my little black dress, cut to my knees.

"I didn't roll this up at all, Alice, and I didn't rip them on thorns. It was my nails, I was rushing…"

She blinked at me. "That's it?"

"What?"

"Your clothes?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh my."

"What's the problem?"

Alice shook her head. "No matter, I'll tell my lady it was merely ruined in the forest. She'll fix you up properly."

_Don't._

I almost gasped at the voice in my head, mainly because it wasn't mine, but then it was gone.

"Let's go," she said as she began to pick her way through the thorny path. The rabbit hopped ahead of her, darting its way through the darkness until its white flashes were gone.

I took about three steps after her when I looked down at my shoes. This was going to be a nightmare. It was slow going after Alice, who had obviously done this before. My legs hurt from the walk and were becoming bloodied at the pricks that were being constantly thrown at it.

"Where are we going?" I called, quickly becoming out of breath.

"To my lady."

"Yeah, I got that much. _Where _is that?"

"Just a little farther!"

I squinted in the darkness. "I don't see anything."

"You will! Very soon! You cannot miss it."

She was correct. Abruptly, within the darkness, bright whiteness began to shine and the form of a gigantic palace grew before me. We emerged from the trees, and I found that we were still in darkness but in a level grassy plain. The palace was, in fact, glowing. I spotted the rabbit again, hopping furiously into the distance, and then Alice broke into a run after it. She looked back at me, waving at me to hurry. I kicked off my heels, grabbed them, and took off after her.

Once again, the voice that was not my own, spoke in my head.

_Don't._


	3. Chapter 3

Alice stopped at a shimmering gate and hastily unfurled her skirts. She straightened her dress and tousled her hair, glancing back at me. She frowned and walked toward me, hands outstretched.

"Hold still, Miss Hatter," she said softly in hushed, calm tones.

She put her hands at the bottom of my dress and holding the hem in her left hand, she created a tear with the nails of her right. I felt my stomach lurch when I looked at her nails: they had been allowed to grow long and were sharp, painted with a metallic gray color. They looked more like steel claws than fingernails. She pulled at the tear until she had ripped a ragged edge all around the edges.

"There," she breathed. "Our story might be more believable now."

"Are you serious?"

"Hm?"

"Is it that important?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"Of course. Modesty is paramount to my lady."

"Then I doubt she will like me," I laughed, shifting my weight on my sore feet.

"Oh, you will do well."

I was puzzled. "At what?"

"My lady will explain all," Alice smiled. She looked me over once, commanded me to put my shoes back on, and pushed her way through the gate.

Ahead of us were trees glowing white with silver leaves and opal berries. Though it must have been the dead of night, it was brighter than day in this courtyard. I could barely make out the white rabbit amidst the illumination. I had very little time to look around me, but I was able to catch a flash of ruby off to my left. I glanced over and I could swear I saw a small boy painting red berries with white.

We stopped at a guarded door where we were neither questioned nor inspected. Instead, the silver-clad henchmen moved aside and allowed myself, Alice, and the rabbit to pass through.

Once on the other side of the door, I noticed a very stark change from outside. The palace (castle, palace, I wasn't sure but it was constructed of marble, at least on the outside) was like a gigantic version of the carriage. The outer appearance was white and regal; the inside was dark and dank and I saw more faint hearts imprinted and carved into the walls. Rather than white marble, the inside was a mix between worn onyx and dark, faded wood. As in the carriage, wherever I saw hearts, murky red shone through.

Which "lady  
was I going to see? If the boy I had seen outside was truly doing what I had thought, then I would have to be seeing the White Queen. But why were there hearts everywhere? And why was I uneasy? This was the pure Queen who could harm no living creature, and I was very much a part of that category. Yet there was something menacing about the castle that I could only attribute to the remaining aura of the Queen of Hearts that was clearly slowly being removed from what I had seen. Perhaps I had come to Wonderland recently after the White Queen's victory over her sister. Maybe she needed me to aid in restoring Wonderland to its former glory?

"Are we going to see your lady now?" I asked, limping after the still quickly moving Alice.

"Oh yes," she replied. "She requested to have an audience with you as soon as you arrived."

"Isn't it late? Maybe we should wait until morning? If I were a queen, I'd really rather have my beauty sleep."

Alice stopped and faced me, looking confused. Her expression quickly melted into understanding.

"Of course, there's day where you come from. Silly me."

"What are you talking about?"

She smiled. "There is only night here, Miss Hatter."

"But-but your lady, wouldn't she rather have daylight?" I stuttered, puzzled.

Alice laughed as if I were a silly child. "No, Miss Hatter. Daylight is harsh and cruel. The only truly safe light is that which is created by oneself, and this castle is surrounded by light created by our White Queen."

"So then by your own logic, it's only safe for her."

"You are indeed wrong again. Since we are the White Queen's subjects, we are a part of her. Therefore, we are protected by her."

"From what exactly?"

"Those that would threaten us and all of Wonderland."

I nodded. Well, this was an elaborate dream.

We continued walking until we were in front of a heart-shaped door that was newly painted in white. Alice knocked several times before a croaky voice within called back for her to enter. She opened the door and we walked into a large ornate room. It was empty save an ivory dais covered with white silk. Seated on the dais was an ancient woman in flowing robes, with long white hair that poured into her lap. Her eyes were bright and blue, almost youthful, but her skin was deeply lined with wrinkles.

The rabbit hopped forward and made a burrow in the silk at the woman's side. She stroked it several times before turning to Alice and I. She looked me up and down and smiled.

"Hello, Allison Hatter. I am the White Queen."


End file.
